


Ako and Rinko set up a laptop

by AimingSashimiG



Series: Bandori Hogwarts AU [4]
Category: BanG Dream! (Anime), BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game), Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/F, Not Beta Read, This is a Bandori fanfic first and foremost, but still some fluff, it is tagged with the Harry Potter tag because a character from the books appears, not enough fluff, too much ranting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-11
Updated: 2020-04-11
Packaged: 2021-03-01 19:55:28
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,857
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23592688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AimingSashimiG/pseuds/AimingSashimiG
Summary: Despite magic getting in the way. Not my best work, but I wrote it so I figured I'd post it.
Relationships: Shirokane Rinko/Udagawa Ako
Series: Bandori Hogwarts AU [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1630144
Kudos: 8





	Ako and Rinko set up a laptop

**Author's Note:**

> The first bit is a little ranty, but there is some RinAko fluff in here, so I figured I may as well post it.

Ako's first impression of wizarding Great Britain was that… it was pretty awesome. But, after the awe at self-writing quills, flying brooms, and really cool pets faded, she had a realization.

All the magic stuff was pretty cool, but the wizards using it were often not. Wizarding society was oddly old fashioned. Even the muggle-borns seemed to ignore the technological advancement of the outside world. They had glowing eyes at the newspapers with moving pictures, but wouldn't even a cheap, basic smart phone be better? Those could get news from all over the world, every day, and in color. Complete with videos. And it could do lots of non-news-related things as well.

Of course, not everyone was so old fashioned. There were even pure blood wizards who had taken an interest in muggle life, though their understanding of it was often comically wrong. Closer to Ako's heart was one Shirokane Rinko, Ako's muggle born best friend, soulmate, and gamer buddy. She agreed with Ako's view that wizards needed to modernize. Rinko's parents made sure to send her muggle textbooks so she could keep up with mundane studies alongside magical ones. Even though Ako's father was a wizard, the idea had inspired him to send Ako and Tomoe muggle textbooks too, with the help of his muggle (but no less magical, he always said) wife.

Some of it was boring, sure. But even some wizarding classes were boring (as terrible as those times had been, Ako sometimes found herself wishing she was attending Carrow's short lived Dark Arts class instead of practicing ward spells to deflect inflated balls for yet another hour.) Just like magical studies, though, muggle learning had some pretty interesting stuff in it too. Like computer programming, which muggles had used to create simulations of immersive and interesting worlds that were both fun and _safe_ to visit, something that seemed outside the grasp of most wizard minds.

And then there was the whole scientific method thing. If wizards bothered to apply that to what they were doing, the wizarding world would be way ahead of the muggle world in innovation. But Hogwarts seemed to be content with teaching its students a bunch of old, basic spells that other people had invented and calling it a day.

It just so happened that headmaster Hermione Granger shared many of these concerns. When she had heard Ako complaining to Rinko, she decided to introduce them to the research being undertaken by Wizarding universities.

Far from the derivative nature of Hogwarts classes, the papers and essays university students wrote were about exploring new things. New ways to use transformation spells in duels, runic adaptations for modern charms, how performing certain ancient rituals could empower recently developed spells… anything anyone would want to know about.

And that everyone definitely included Ako and Rinko, who had discovered a paper titled 'Runic Warding Against Magic Field Distortions of Electron Movement.” In other words, how to stop magic from screwing around with electronics. Ako and Rinko could possibly enjoy their favorite hobby at Hogwarts!

Too bad that university-level papers were so complicated. There were lots of words, spells, and people referenced that neither gamer had ever heard of before, and an attempt to learn about them just revealed more keywords they'd need to learn. But then, one fateful day on summer break when Ako was using her computer at home (she wasn't allowed to use magic during break anyway, and her father rarely felt the need to, so electronics had always worked just fine in the Udagawa household), the young Slytherin had discovered that some other wizards had figured out how to apply the theory contained in the paper she and Rinko had read when she stumbled upon the “Wizarding Web.” And they had been kind enough to post easy to follow tutorials to get computers working in magical places! 

Which was why Ako and Rinko were gathered in an easily accessed but currently unused room in the castle, with the full support of Headmistress Hermione Granger (who didn't care about video games at all but still saw numerous benefits to having a computer at Hogwarts.) Ako set the cheap, old notebook computer she had brought on a table at the single table in the room, while her girlfriend set up a power generator. According to the instructions they had printed out, it was a good idea to test their warding on a small, disposable device first. Ako thought that made a lot of sense, so she had also brought along a battery powered flashlight from the one pound store. Then, she and Rinko started to draw the necessary runes.

“Boy, I'm really glad that I decided to take Ancient Runes classes. These runes are really complicated,” said Ako

“I don't think I've ever seen these runes in that class, though, Ako-chan. They're not ancient, after all...”

“That's true, but all these new complicated runes are just made up of small simplified versions of traditional runes, I think. It's interesting how they don't bother with using a single runic language, though.”

“It is kind of interesting. By the way, what games did you download onto this computer?”  
“Halo, an ancient version of Minecraft, Doom, Morrowind, some other old RPGs… this computer isn't really good enough to run newer games.”

“If this works well, maybe we can ask the headmistress to invest in a better computer? But, I'm a little excited to play Morrowind. Lot's of people on the forums I frequent recommend it.”

“Yeah, I've heard good things too, like the setting is way cooler than Skyrim's. Though I've also heard the combat system is a little wonky. I want to try a spellsword build! ...Actually, now that I think about it, if I learnt how to use a sword, I could be a spellsword in real life. Or, since I've already specced into summoning, maybe I should learn to use a bow and arrow and have my inferni tank for me.”

“Since real life has a modern setting, I think a stronger build might be to put skill points into, um, firearms.”

“Ooh, that's a good idea Rinrin. Maybe I could even equip my summons with guns. I bet wizarding Great Britain would be really easy to take over then, if I wanted to do that. Or if I make my own eternal wizarding empire, I can make sure no one can invade it. I don't really know where to get a gun, though.”

“… Yeah, me neither.”

As Ako and Rinko pondered easily achievable and powerful real life 'hybrid' builds, they completed the runic arrangement their instructions detailed. They took a few minutes comparing the pictures in their print outs to what they had drawn, correcting any mistakes they had made, then let of a spark of magic to activate the runes. What looked almost like a wall of magical energy flared up around the table and power generator, then disappeared, just like the instructions said would happen. It was time for the moment of truth. Ako walked to the desk and picked up her flashlight.

Usually, in places with lots of magic, the laws of physics as understood by muggles started to break down. This meant that electronics, relying entirely on the finer points of these laws, wouldn't work properly. The ward should, theoretically, force the reality within it to work oppositely; electronics should work just fine but magic would become strange within it. And indeed, Ako experienced a strange feeling as she reached her arm into the ward to get her flashlight. And, most importantly, when the switch was flipped, the flashlight shone brightly.

That was a pretty good sign the ward was working as intended. The LEDs on the power generator turning on when that switch was flipped was another. And then, the ultimate success: Windows XP's start up screen on the laptop.

“We did it Rinrin!”

Ako gave her girlfriend a congratulatory hug and kiss, which were eagerly reciprocated.

“Good job, Ako-chan! Just to make sure everything is working correctly, why don't we try some gaming?”  
“Yeah. Now that I think about it, this will be the first video game ever played in Hogwarts! A truly historical moment!”

There was only one chair in the room, but Ako and Rinko were masters of sitting-on-lap one computer gaming. For Morrowind, it was decided that Ako would control the keyboard while Rinko had mouse duty. It was nice playing that way, cuddling and using teamwork to guide the wood-elf spellsword they had made to victory. Being able to indulge in a beloved hobby they hadn't been able to engage in since the start of the school year felt like a very good reward for their efforts. Loosing track of time, the duo got pretty far into the game, and were in the middle of debating sacrificing ethics for cool magic and joining the House Telvanni when headmistress Granger entered the room.

“Well, I see that you two got the computer working,” said the headmistress, a mixture of pride at their accomplishment and disappointment that they were up and about this late after curfew in her voice. Ako quickly hit the quick save button and alt-tabbed to the desktop.

“Headmistress, you're back! Me and Rinrin were just making sure everything was working okay.”

“It should be 'Rinrin and I,' miss Udagawa. But I see that you two have been enjoying your testing. On a related note, did you two know that you should have been in your common rooms an hour and a half ago?”

“H-how did setting up the router go, headmistress?” Rinko asked trying to change the topic.

“A lot less enjoyable than your part of the project, I'm afraid. The centaurs are very… protective of the magical leylines in the forbidden forest, so it wasn't easy to convince them to let me connect a muggle device to one of them.”

“I see that there's some wifi on the computer, so that means you did it! Did you have to duel a champion chosen by the centaurs for honor and internet gaming?” asked Ako excitedly.

“Not quite. I agreed to send someone to help them maintain their village. And since you two are so energetic and have proven yourselves to need less sleep than vampires, you two are the ones I'll be sending, right after we connect this 'wireless' thing.”

For Ako and Rinko, it was hardly a punishment.

“Rinrin, do you think we'll find a cool mystery like we did in my first year?”

“Actually, I wouldn't mind if we didn't. It would be nice to have a relaxing date with you in the moonlight, Ako-chan.”

The headmistress just sighed. Of all the students in Hogwarts, of course these two would consider the forbidden forest to be a romantic date spot.

Well, Hermione thought to herself as her students walked into the night holding hands, at least Hogwarts was finally entering the 21st century. And the headmistress could do some testing of her own. She was about as excited as when she'd been a first year. A world of magical secrets, just recently discovered, was before her.

**Author's Note:**

> When I'm not reading Yuri, I'm a fan of High Fantasy and Science fiction with nice, internally consistent rules and lots of exposition. That part of me came out too much during this fic.


End file.
